Top 5 Spooky Tiki Mugs

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Objets de Tiki and tagged with Disneyland, Frankie's Tiki Room, Halloween, Psycho Suzi's, Tiki, Tiki Farm, Tiki Mugs, Trader Sam's October 31, 2013

Tiki mugs have gone way beyond ersatz portrayals of Polynesian gods. Thanks to creative companies like Tiki Farm and Munktiki there are now ceramics in all sorts of shapes and styles. In the spirit of Halloween, I present this round-up of a few of my favorite spooktacular spirits vessels.

The mugs that Tiki Farm produces for Frankie’s Tiki Room are some of my all-time favorites, especially the ones with Las Vegas details like the dice eyes on the Thurston Howl mug designed by Mark T. Zeilman. The regular version of this mug is green and red but for Halloween 2010 there was a limited run of 100 “Halloween Howl” mugs made in orange and black. (This photo is from an eBay auction since I missed out on this one…)

Trader Sam’s tiki bar at the Disneyland Hotel contains many references to Adventureland attractions like The Enchanted Tiki Room, Jungle Cruise and Indiana Jones, but this creepy collectible bears a resemblance to the Hatbox Ghost/tall Hitchhiking Ghost from the Haunted Mansion. Manufactured by Tiki Farm, it made its debut in 2012 but is still available as a souvenir when you order the Shrunken Zombie Head cocktail.

One of the first mugs I ever ordered from Tiki Farm was The Gravekeeper (center), which was sculpted by Baron Shivers of the spooky surf band The Ghastly Ones. (Their song “Ghastly Stomp” is an infectious ode to “Grim Grinning Ghosts” from the Haunted Mansion.) This ghoulish guy was so popular that it was later released in another color: “Perilous Purple.”

Another eerie locale-exclusive mug I like is the shrunken head mug from Psycho Suzi’s in Minneapolis. They commissioned it from Tiki Farm in 2011 for The Shrunken Head bar, one of the sections of the Shangri-La Cocktail Lounge upstairs. (Read more about this mug in my Psycho Suzi’s gift shop post.)

The Southern California event Tiki Oasis has a signature mug every year, and Munktiki drew inspiration from 2008’s theme “Voodoo Vacation on Zombie Island” for this clever creation. (Here again, photo is from an eBay auction.) It’s a zombie-fied take on the Don the Beachcomber head mug — fitting since Don the Beachcomber invented the Zombie cocktail. Speaking of Zombies, if you’re in the mood to mix one up on Halloween (or any other night of the year), you should check out Professor Cocktail’s Zombie Horde: Recipes for the World’s Most Lethal Drink by David J. Montgomery. (Stay tuned for a full review of that e-book.)

Do you have a favorite tiki mug you’ll be imbibing from this All Hallows’ Eve?

Tiki Bar in “The Haunted Mansion” Movie

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Tiki on TV and tagged with Disney, Disneyland, Enchanted Tiki Room, Halloween, Haunted Mansion, Tiki, Tiki on TV October 18, 2013

In the run-up to Halloween I love to buy pumpkin-flavored everything at Trader Joe’s and watch spooky movies at home. I’m a total wuss and refuse to watch anything legitimately scary, so I stick to family-friendly fare like “Mad Monster Party,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Hocus Pocus.”

This year I hesitantly added Disney’s notorious “Haunted Mansion” movie from 2003 to our viewing list. (It was not nearly as well-received as their other theme-park-attraction-turned-film from that year: “Pirates of the Caribbean.”) At any rate, I’m 10 years late to the party of discovering that there’s a tiki bar scene!

Early in the movie, Eddie Murphy’s real estate agent character meets up with a couple at a tiki bar to sign the paperwork to sell their house. (If only we could have signed all the forms for our house at a tiki bar!)

The quirky couple drink out of Munktiki mugs and order a seemingly made-up tropical drink called Three Volcanoes. (If you’re trying to remember where you’ve seen that guy before, he was Kenny the hack comedian on “Seinfeld.”)

We listened to the DVD commentaries for this scene and learned that it was a reshoot designed to emphasize the workaholic nature of Eddy Murphy’s character. It sounded like the crew on a whim said, “Hey, let’s make it a tiki bar!” (Apparently the tiki bar set can now be found at the director’s house.)

If you look carefully you may be able to spot the three hitchhiking ghosts from later in the movie. They’re among the Hawaiian-shirted extras in this scene, according to the commentary.

It’s been pointed out that it was especially appropriate for there to be a tiki bar at the beginning of the film because at Disneyland you walk by The Enchanted Tiki Room in Adventureland before you get to the Haunted Mansion in New Orleans Square.

“The Haunted Mansion” had its share of groanworthy gags and jokes, but it wasn’t the abomination it was made out to be. It’s probably worth watching once for the random tiki sighting, gorgeous mansion set and costume designs, and cameos by Wallace Shawn.

Tiki at the LA County Fair: Part Five

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Other Tiki Topics and tagged with Disney, Enchanted Tiki Room, LA County Fair, Tiki, Tiki Art October 11, 2013

Many people claim that Los Angeles has no seasons, so I suppose the L.A. County Fair is helpful in marking the end of summer. We cherish our annual traditions of riding the biggest Ferris Wheel (even though it’s sort of terrifying)…

…cooing at the cute baby farm animals…

…and eating ridiculous fried food. This year we tried the deep-fried Reese’s Peanut Butter Big Cup (pictured) and Chicken Charlie’s deep-fried cookie dough. Both were definitely winners in my book.

We scoped out the tablescaping contest in the arts and crafts building, too. Alas, there was no tiki-themed entry like last year, but I did enjoy this one for “It Happened One Night” that was set up as if the stars Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert had just stepped out for a moment.

New for this year were shows by Mermaid Melissa, a legit underwater performer who can hold her breath for five minutes. We were pretty underwhelmed by the size of the traveling tank — but how could we not be after seeing Marina the Fire-Eating Mermaid at the Wreck Bar earlier this summer? The kids (and one kinda creepy dude) seemed to enjoy it, though.

The highlight of this year’s fair was the giant exhibition Pencils 2 Pixels: The Art of Animation. There were displays for the biggies like Disney, Dreamworks and Sony Pictures Animation, but there was also representation of stop-motion animation (“Pirates! Band of Misfits”), Japanese anime and video game animation.

We’re pretty fond of cartoons around our house, if you hadn’t noticed by the frequent “Tiki on TV” posts I write. I’m pretty sure I squealed with delight when I spotted this animation cell from “Jem and The Holograms.”

Part of the exhibit was dedicated to a gift shop where I found this Disney art giclee of James Mulligan’s “Tiki Trouble” ($595), featuring Stitch and the tiki poles from inside The Enchanted Tiki Room.

There were cut-outs and set pieces where you could take a picture in the living room of “The Simpsons” and the Mystery Machine from “Scooby Doo.” Of course I had to pose with the Moai-inspired home of Squidward Tentacles from “Spongebob Squarepants.”

We wandered through a few of the other expo buildings with their in-person infomercials and among the vendors was a booth with all kinds of piñatas, including this tiki-ish one. That’s one way to take out your aggression for those Party City-style tikis! Though buying them would just encourage them to make more, so never mind.

The Tiki Chick

A California girl chronicling modern tiki culture

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Top 5 Spooky Tiki Mugs

Tiki Bar in “The Haunted Mansion” Movie

Tiki at the LA County Fair: Part Five